UK and US air forces strengthen interoperability during Exercise Agile Shield
RAF and US Air Force personnel based in the UK have taken part in Exercise Agile Shield – Britain's largest Agile Combat Employment (ACE) exercise.
Six USAF F-35A Lightning II aircraft and 63 airmen assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing participated in the combined exercise with their Royal Air Force counterparts operating the F-35B.
ACE training events focus on strengthening participants' capability to rapidly deploy from their home base and establish and sustain combat airpower.
The ACE exercises train forces to operate from dispersed locations – they rapidly reposition and sustain air operations across multiple bases – rather than relying on a few large airfields.
The countries aim to exercise together regularly to improve interoperability as well as maintain and strengthen the relationship between the two nations' air forces.
This time, they practised dispersing their aircraft and personnel to other UK locations at short notice as fighter jets based at RAF Lakenheath deployed to RAF Marham.
The aircraft had to leave their main operating base with two days' notice – transferring from a new location with minimal delay.
Master Sergeant Steven Stone of 48th Logistics Readiness Squadron, said they mobilised quickly.
"The biggest takeaway was maintaining the relationships between the US and UK... within a couple of hours, they were fully mission ready," he explained.
One RAF NCO reflected on the successes of the exercise, improvements for ACE training and the lessons learnt by the UK and US teams with their strengthened partnership.
"Agile Shield has shown us that we can operate concurrent UK and US aircraft from this base and support them logistically without missing a beat," he said.
"That means we can continue to develop our posture, keep proving to ourselves that we're ready to respond to whatever threats come our way and support our enduring Nato commitment."
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